A special treat for some widows

One of the highlights of the FBC Bryan, TX volunteer team was sponsoring a dinner for the widows of Mkoba Baptist Church in Gweru. Before eating a meal, one is always given the opportunity to wash one's hands. Some of the ladies of the church volunteered to prepare the meal. They cooked up big pots of rice and sadza (thick mealie meal porridge). They also prepared chicken and beef dishes, vegetables, and coleslaw. It was a real feast. A meal one might only see at a very special occasion like Christmas. The team members enjoyed sitting with the widows during the meal and getting to know them. Each widow was very excited when she received her gift bag of goodies. After the meal, team member Lynette shared a devotional with the ladies to encourage them and remind them of God’s watchcare and love for them. Then the widows were given an opportunity to share their testimonies. It was very powerful to hear how lady after lady shared all that God had done for her and provided for her needs. The team stayed at Antelope Game Park while ministering in Gweru. While there, they were treated to a donkey carriage game drive which is a great way to get up close to the wild animals Later the team enjoyed a "braai" or African barbecue at the Serenity Lodge where they were staying.

Highs and Lows of the Sanyati Makeover 2013

I’m sure many of you have played HIGH/LOW or at least know of it: What is the high (or best thing) about your day and what is the low (or most difficult thing) about your day? I would like to give you some of the Highs and Lows of the past 2 months to try to sum up all the work and ministry that is being done at Sanyati Baptist Hospital Makeover 2013. High: The roofs and coverings for the walkways at the hospital are being completed. Low: Trenches were dug and new pipes were laid at the volunteer house to help with waste removal.

High: Painting of boards for walkways, chapel and overhangs done. Low: Volunteers going home with samples of the paint colors, not ministry tattoos, on their body High: Electricians helping supply outlets and some solar to dark places in the hospital. (Nurse in Green is smiling, sometimes) Low: Still continue to have some blackouts. High: Water tanks secured and stabilized on previously sagging stand. Low: Still some lack of getting water to be put in them.

Low: One Sunday a Commuter Bus wrecked and 6 people were dead at the scene but 11 people were brought to our hospital that morning, many critically wounded. High: The volunteer team that week happened to consist of a nurse, 2 paramedics and a med asst. that were all able to help with the crisis in the hospital. (A seminar on Effective Triage had just been given by the volunteer RN and after the incident we were able to debrief with the staff and try to make some future plans for the hospital on how to deal with such instances more effectively) High: New Road sign painted pointing the way to the hospital.

Low: Traffic jams while people get their picture taken by the new sign. High: Numerous school children all over the area hearing about the Good news of Jesus Love for them. Low: Children screaming in fear seeing Murungu (white faces) for the first time.

High: Middle school age children hearing the message of Abstinence and Waiting for True Love and Marriage to have sex from Dr. HIV! Low: Watching a 15 year old girl who was dying of AIDS and praying with her grandma who sat helplessly in the hospital with her every day till she passed.

High: Beautiful murals adorn the inside and outside walls of the hospital and some surrounding facilities Low: Seeing birds try to perch unsuccessfully in the branches of the painted tree. High: ACTS (African Christian Tours and Safaris) has been providing transport, cooking and assistance with culture for all the volunteer teams. Low: Gaining weight eating all the wonderfully prepared food while serving on mission in Zimbabwe. High: Teachers in area receive training in creative ways to help children learn. H: highly I: intelligent instructors G: giving H:Helpful teacher training L: lectures are O: old W: way

High: Volunteers watching the local blacksmith create his hammers, axes, machetes, knives and hoes in his thatched shed as he operates the bicycle wheel type billow. Low: Getting all those ‘weapons’ purchased through security at the airport. High: Eating a wonderful “traditional meal” of sadza and greens under the Milky Way and Southern Cross constellations in the beautiful moonlit sky at a friend’s village. Low: Tasting Mapani Worms for the first time (and LAST). High: Volunteers in nursing school getting to see a C-section and ‘assist’ in another delivery of baby. Low: Volunteer teaching Sunday school is distracted by a Mother nursing her baby in the front row. Low: Encountering many people affected with HIV and dying of AIDS in the community. High: Taking ‘Love Buckets’ filled with necessary supplies for those severely ill people in their homes and being able to show Christ’s love in a tangible way. (BGR Project)

Even Higher: Providing an opportunity of witnessing and for one of these same young people to accept Christ’s love and forgiveness a few days before she died Higher still: A 24 yr old mother of 4boys, sick with AIDS, also received a love bucket and Christ as Savior High: Roofing put up over containers that store the supplies for the Hospital Makeover. Low: The termites enter the container from underneath. High: 86 volunteers (+ 15 more to come) from the US this year to help with the makeover; Low: One volunteer was very sick and received news of a cancer diagnosis upon her return home. Please be praying for her. HIGH: Mark and I desire that it is GOD who is High and Lifted Up. We continue to seek His will for our involvement here at Sanyati Baptist Hospital. WE are seeing God move in our community but more importantly in our hearts. LOW: Is our position on our knees before His throne. We continue to request and appreciate your faithful prayers and support. May your Highs be occasions for Praise and your Lows be opportunities for Prayer, Dr. Mark and Angie and Luke Byler

Spur Volunteers

God is at work in the small west Texas town of Spur. Several years ago Pastor Rory Mosely led his church members to participate in a month of stillness before the Lord. Most church activities were suspended. Only Sunday worship was retained. Church members were challenged to cut out television and as many extra-curricular activities as possible. They were urged to spend more time reading God’s Word, praying and listening for God’s instructions. At the end of the month, church members began to share what God had been speaking to them during the last few weeks. One member told Pastor Mosely, “God told me He wants me to go on a mission trip to Africa.” “I was not expecting that”, recalls Pastor Mosely. Then two other members spoke up that they also felt called to go to Africa. Next a lady said she felt called to go to China, while others mentioned Israel, Lebanon, and South America. Pastor Mosely was totally blown away by what God was saying to his church members. “I had never even been on a mission trip! How was I to lead my church to become so involved in missions around the world?”

Even though he did not know where to begin and was overwhelmed by the financial challenge his small rural church would face, he started asking questions. He gained helpful information, advice, and encouragement from others who had participated in mission trips. As Pastor Rory and his church members began to pray about how to proceed, God began to open doors of invitation to be involved with world missions. A volunteer team headed to Zimbabwe had 5 places they needed to fill on their team. There were exactly 5 people from Spur who wanted to go!

Those feeling called to China were also matched with a team headed there. A personal connection with missionaries in Guatemala provided a ministry opportunity for members from Spur. Teams headed to Israel and Lebanon also included members from Spur. Pastor Mosely recalls, “Even more miraculous than each person feeling called to go was able to be matched to a team was watching how God provided financially for the means to go. It often came from unexpected resources: people in our community not belonging to our church, and people passing through feeling led to stop and give. Most of it arrived just in time as deadlines approached.” Since those days of stillness, this small church had continued to be personally involved in local, state, and overseas missions. To date about 80% of their members have been on a mission trip of some kind. Zimbabwe has been blessed twice by their work, and look forward to their third trip later this summer where they will be working at Sanyati as part of the makeover of the hospital and ministry to the community around the hospital.

One small church, taking the time to “Be still and know that I am God”, listening to God’s heart, heard Him clearly say, “Go Ye Therefore”, AND THEY DID!

Do I Really Thirst?

Do I Really Thirst? It is currently one of the hottest months in Zimbabwe and I am really feeling it. One of my favorite things about summer time in the States is the BIG GULP drinks that you can get at a discounted price at the gas stations. There I seem to always be carrying around a 32 oz drink for less than 75 cents whether I am thirsty or not, usually not. Today we went to a VERY rural school over an hour away, deeper into the ‘bush’ so to speak. Traveling the gravel and dirt paths in the old Toyota pickup tended to be a bit bumpy but the air conditioner in the truck is a luxury we do not take lightly. Pulling up to the school, passing the rural clinic in a place called Nyaunde, brought back memories from many years back when we shared the Gospel and saw people commit to Christ and get baptized. The school had a fresh coat of bright sky-blue paint and it was eerily quiet because the 7th graders were all taking tests, to see if they could qualify for secondary school. The rest of the kids who came to school were outside trying to find any spot of shade available under the trees. We had come to share the story of Salvation with them to pass the time while the others were testing. Over two hundred eager students sang songs with us and listened to the Gospel story. To reinforce the message we had a craft to share with them. Using colors to represent parts of the story we talked about a Golden heaven that we are kept from because of our darkened hearts, but how the red blood of Jesus can clean us and make us white as snow. Once we believe and receive Christ as our Savior we are baptized in the blue water and continue to grow in the green grace and knowledge of Jesus. The youngest students returned to a classroom with a coloring page entitled “C is for CROSS”. Sounds basic and simple, however, these students had never seen crayons before and didn’t know what to do with them. Once they caught on they were thrilled with the results and proudly displayed their pictures to us. The older students created a salvation bracelet and learned about sharing the gospel by using the colors as symbols to tell such an important story.

Doing this outside in the 100 degree heat was not nearly as miserable as cramming inside a classroom with no breeze to present the school with some simple gifts of a soccer ball, jump ropes and more crayons. At the closing prayer our eyes were stinging, not because of emotion, but because of the sweat dripping into them. The children and teachers were thrilled with the day and headed out to lunch. Our day was only half over because soon the Ladies would be gathering for the weekly WMU meeting and my friend Mickey was going to be sharing her testimony. The heat was stifling and we couldn’t seem to get enough to drink. I had brought what I thought was an abundance of frozen water bottles but even as we sipped continuously on the melting drinks, our thirst was still ravishing.

Love Buckets

Love Buckets. So what’s in a “Love Bucket”? Roses, chocolate candies, sentimental notes? Hardly. More like a towel, sheets, gloves, vitamins, a scrub brush, lotion and bendy straws; at least that is some of what is in the Love Buckets sent to AIDS patients around the world through a program sponsored by the Baptist Global Response (BGR). Dubbed “Love Buckets” by missionary emeritus, Bud Fray, these gifts of love and compassion were distributed to 15 different patients in the Sanyati area of Zimbabwe. Bud’s Sunday school class at Central Baptist Church of Crossville, Tennessee, packed the buckets with particular items designed to specifically assist homebound AIDS patients. In September Bud, along with some men from his church, brought the buckets to Sanyati in their duffel bags. Joining up with the Village Health Care Workers, we had the opportunity to visit people in their homes and share the love of Christ in a very tangible way. Every village had a different story.

Amai Tinotenda, lying on a mat in her hut was barely able to sit up when we visited her. Blind and very weak from the Virus, she was being cared for by a 16 year old son, the only other person living there. Who would have thought a simple sheet and mattress protector were loving items? Amai did when the Village Health workers spread them on her straw mat giving her a bit more comfortable place to spend her day. Priska was in too much pain to walk and our hearts were torn as we watched her brother push her in a wheel barrow to their simple living room so we could share the “love bucket” with her. Who would have thought that a tube of Carmex would be a loving item? Priska did when we applied it to her cracked and sore lips. The smile that came as a result of this and the songs we sang for her about God’s love lit up the room. Judith, a 12 year old girl laid on the floor in her room, too weak to go to school. Her parents had both passed away and her Gogo (Grandma) took care of her. Judith was very quiet at first as we greeted her and began to share about why we came to see her; all the while her Gogo lovingly comforted her. Who would have thought that a bendy straw was a loving item? Judith did when she was able to take a drink without having to struggle to sit up and not spilling the juice all over her.

Tyron is 13. Some days are better than others and he can attend school; today he was home. His parents are both deceased and he is living with his grandparents. Small for his age and covered in a rash, Tyron is still able to smile and is very grateful that we have come to see him and share the “love bucket” with him. Who would have thought that Multi vitamins were a loving item? Tyron and the whole village did. They had been praying for a way to get vitamins, often referred to as “boosters”, for HIV+ patients, knowing that good nutrition is vital to someone being treated with ARV’s (anti retroviral). This was an answer to their prayers.

These are a few of the stories. The fact that Love overflowed from these buckets was very evident. It really wasn’t just the material items that the patients received that blessed each recipient and family; it was all the love and prayers that went in to packing each individual bucket, the love and prayers that accompanied each individual visit, and the love and prayers that now continue as names and faces are associated with each individual gift. WE continue to pray for the opportunity to show God’s love in a very real way to the people who are struggling everyday with the harsh reality of illnesses that this world brings. May they find the comfort of a Heavenly Father, who sees their pain, and whose Love NO BUCKET could contain.

The Sandra Jones Center

Old Hotel Rio is a place you just want to take your shoes off and run around in the grass. First because of the obvious, its grass, in Africa. But second because your running with a mass of 3 year olds behind you. You're running with the sound of tiny voices yelling, "Auntie!!!!" As you walk in for tea time, you scan the room for a chair to sit in. You see little feet, shoeless, dangling, and kicking vigorously in their seats. You sit with some older girls and they smile and giggle as you ask them about their tea and how school is going for them. They love to hear you speak, they hang onto your words as they come out of your mouth. They starve for your attention. You see, they have been left, they have been abused, they have been broken, and they need your love. They crave it, its why they ask if you will be returning to them. They want to be sure you won't leave forever. They have come to memorize the day and time of our coming and going, they wait outside as if they were just hanging out out there, in reality you can see in their faces they were waiting for us to drive up. These children have been brought to the Sandra Jones Center, now located at the Old Hotel Rio. They range from birth to 18. They have either been abused in one way or another or just simply abandoned. They are beautiful souls. Beautiful souls in need of Jesus Christ. Us Bulawayo girls have had the privilege and honor to invest our spare time and energy into these children. Some of their precious little faces consume my thoughts at times. They are so full of life, so full of joy, it just ebbs out of them into us and we keep coming back for more. So often I think we find ourselves more ministered to by those we are supposed to be ministering to. God has been good in opening doors and windows and flood gates for us to just pour into this group of children and teens. We have been given the opportunity to share the love of Christ through math tutoring, swim lessons, bible studies, and starting very soon a volley ball team! We take time to do every day things so as to invest for an eternity. We are excited to see what all is going to unfold in our time with these girls, but for now, we know that this is where the Father wants us.

Sanyati Makeover 2012: Picture the Results!

The noise of excited volunteer construction workers at Sanyati Baptist Hospital has come to an end, but the results of their labor of love will be evident for many years to come. So much work had to be done, and if you read back through the blogs you will see the terrible shape the hospital was in before the makeover. Recently, missionary Gregg Fort made a trip to Sanyati. He arrived to this stunning view of the newly painted hospital beautifully framed by these Flamboyant trees.

One of the most urgent projects was getting backup lighting to the hospital due to the frequent and lengthy power cuts at Sanyati. Here you see pictured the new solar powered system.

The new system is capable of supplying power and lights to the surgical theatres (one is seen below), as well as providing lights to the remainder of the hospital!

Another priority was the chapel, where daily services are held and patients and staff are all encouraged to participate. It looks very beautiful after its repairs and painting.

In addition to Baptist donations and construction efforts, the hospital was awarded a government grant to help with some of the refurbishing. The government funds provided for the tile floor you see in the chapel, and throughout the hospital. It also provided for some of the painting which was done as part of the refurbishment process.

It also provided for the repainting of the dormitory for the nursing students.

The government also provided a new ambulance for the hospital.

Thanks to Baptist Global Response and all the Baptists who provided funds and helped by donating their time and talents in the makeover project this year. Stateside Makeover Director Peter Sierson and BGR representative Mark Hatfield will be meeting to determine which needs will be addressed in 2013. Some of the outstanding needs are new covers over the walkways between buildings, the plumbing and the electrical wiring.